Thomasson: 'SB 1146 violates the spirit and the letter of both the U.S. and state constitutions, which guarantee the free exercise of religion and prohibit the State from interfering with religion. The amended SB 1146 would put government in charge of religion, judging what is sin, love, moral, biblical, proper -- even what is salvation. SB 1146 begins the process of government taking over religion, a very dangerous precedent in a free society.'

Sacramento, California -- An analysis of the California bill placing new state mandates upon religious institutions of higher learning shows that the State of California would take more territory from formerly sacred ground, effectively making the State the new "moral" authority over religion.

SaveCalifornia.com, a veteran pro-child, pro-family organization, has analyzed the remaining provisions of SB 1146, which has been amended eight times, including today in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which passed the bill out of the suspense file and sent it to the Assembly floor.

As of the August 11 amendments, the latest bill creates a new state government mandate for religious colleges, universities, seminaries, and bible schools in California, by requiring public disclosure of their biblical policies, including a comprehensive list of moral standards ("scope of the allowable activities") that these institutions enforce for students, employees, and faculty members.

SB 1146 would create a comprehensive new mandate upon the religious sector by requiring these religious institutions to display and distribute -- both on campus and to current and prospective students, employees, and faculty members -- their scriptural policies, which the State regards as "discriminatory." This new mandate would subject religious institutions to new inspections and compliance enforcement by the State.

In SB 1146, the State strongly implies that a faith-based college, university, seminary, or bible school cannot have and hold scriptural standards on marriage, sex, and natural genders unless it is proven to the California state government that a federal government exemption to Title IX exists for that institution.

Under SB 1146, the state government will now manage a public list of religious institutions -- and their religious activities -- if they claim a federal exemption, which also exempts them from all of the State of California's pro-homosexuality-bisexuality-transsexuality laws. According to a Los Angeles Times report, another regulatory effect of the amended SB 1146 "requires colleges to notify the state Student Aid Commission, which oversees Cal Grants, each time a student is expelled for violating a school's moral code of conduct. ... He said the requirement for schools to report expulsions based on morality codes to the state Commission on Student Aid will give him information on how common such cases are." If this indeed will be a regulatory effect of the amended SB 1146, a self-reporting requirement would be imposed upon religious institutions whenever a student is expelled for violating biblical standards for conduct as set forth in the school's policy. Religious institutions must report themselves to the State.

"As written, SB 1146 hands over inspection and control of sacred things to the government," said Randy Thomasson, who has 22 years of California legislative experience and is president of SaveCalifornia.com, which promotes moral virtues for the common good and has been opposing SB 1146 with paid ads reaching concerned Californians. "SB 1146 violates the spirit and the letter of both the U.S. and state constitutions, which guarantee the free exercise of religion and prohibit the State from interfering with religion. The amended SB 1146 would put government in charge of religion, judging what is sin, love, moral, biblical, proper -- even what is salvation. SB 1146 begins the process of government taking over religion, a very dangerous precedent in a free society."

SaveCalifornia.com is a leading West Coast nonprofit, nonpartisan organization standing strong for moral virtues for the common good. We represent children and families in the areas of marriage and family, parental rights, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, financial freedom, and back-to-basics education.

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